The Future of The Kurdish Language

The Future of The Kurdish Language

This article proposes a method for bringing the two most widely spoken Kurdish dialects, Kurmanji and Sorani, closer together, as part of the process of standardization, and this is illustrated with examples. Through the comparison of the two dialects, both morphological and lexical features can be identified. Often one dialect exhibits multiformity while the other has a single form. Notwithstanding an important exception to this method (the past participle), in general, by selecting one of the multiple forms that is closest to the other dialect’s single form, the dialects can be brought closer together. This is proposed as part of an educational system designed to engender mutual respect, by teaching all Kurdish children both Kurmanji and Sorani, and in both the Latin and Arabic orthographies for Kurdish.